9 January 2018
UNEP, BNP Paribas Partner to Meet Climate Goals, SDGs
Photo by Megan Peters
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The projects together could contribute over 30% to achievement of the Paris Agreement.

Erik Solheim, UNEP Executive Director, called for a tenfold increase in climate finance that goes towards sustainable land use.

The projects will include participation of all stakeholders, including women and indigenous peoples and local communities.

12 December 2017: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and BNP Paribas, a European bank, signed an agreement to establish ‘Sustainable Finance Facilities,’ which are partnerships for raising capital for sustainable economic growth in emerging countries. The collaboration will identify commercial projects with measurable environmental and social impact, and support smallholder projects related to renewable energy and water access, agroforestry, and responsible agriculture, among others.

The Sustainable Finance Facilities aim to achieve US$10 billion in capital funding by 2025. The Facilities will help channel private sector finance toward sustainable economic development in emerging countries, through third-party global investors and the issuance of green loans.

Projects will: support national climate and sustainable development commitments, including the SDGs; build climate resilience; and help achieve food, water and energy security targets. Such projects will achieve these goals by: restoring degraded agriculture landscapes through agroforestry; improving smallholder agriculture; and investing in renewable energy in rural areas, in particular to replace charcoal. The projects, which together could contribute over 30% to the achievement of the objectives in the Paris Agreement on climate change, will include participation of all stakeholders, including women and indigenous peoples and local communities.

Land and soil management is the largest untapped potential for climate action, said Solheim.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, BNP CEO, emphasized his company’s role of directing financial capital to projects that address climate change and sustainable economic development. Erik Solheim, UNEP Executive Director, underscored that how land and soils are managed remains the “largest untapped potential for climate action,” and called for a tenfold increase in climate finance that goes towards sustainable land use.

The agreement, which was signed at the One Planet Summit on 12 December 2017, in Paris, France, is the first of its kind in terms of collaboration among companies, investors, development partners, and civil society organizations, with the support of national governments. BNP Paribas will act as an advisor on capital markets and structuring, and will bring institutional investor capital into the programme, while UNEP will ensure positive environmental and social impacts of projects.

The agreement builds on the Tropical Landscapes Financing Facility (TLFF), a partnership between UNEP, BNP Paribas, the World Agroforestry Centre and ADM Capital in Indonesia, which aims to “leverage private finance for public good” by scaling up investment in landscapes. [UNFCCC Press Release]


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